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June 4, 2018

Boeing Sees Two-Year Wait for World's Biggest Fighter Jet Deal

India wants 110 combat aircraft in deal valued at around $15b

BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Saab also aiming to win contract

It could be another two years before India picks the winner of the world’s biggest combat aircraft order, according to a senior Boeing Co. executive.
Boeing
is well placed in the race to supply the Indian Air Force with 110
fighter jets, Gene Cunningham, Boeing vice president of global defense
sales, told Bloomberg News on Sunday on the sidelines of a security
forum in Singapore. The company is a finalist in a separate competition
to supply the Indian navy with 57 fighter jets.
“We have gotten to know Indian industry, understand the Indian process,” Cunningham said.
The tender for 110 combat aircraft mandates building at least
85 percent of the order locally. The deal is likely to be at least $15
billion.
Boeing
said in April that it would partner with state-run Hindustan
Aeronautics Ltd. and Mahindra Defense Systems Ltd. to manufacture the
F/A-18 Super Hornet in India at a new facility, which can also be used
for other requirements. Other companies in the running include Lockheed
Martin Corp., Saab AB and BAE Systems Plc.

Boeing Joins Saab in Race for World’s Biggest Fighter Jet Deal

“We’ll
throw our hat into the ring,” Alan Garwood, BAE’s director for group
business development, said in an interview on Sunday. “We’ve seen the
requirement and we’ve said we’ll put some sort of tender in.”
The British defense and aerospace company makes the twin-engine Eurofighter Typhoon jet.Garwood
said BAE had been making aircraft in India for 70 years, a key
advantage given Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s requirement that the new
jets be made in India.
“We have good relationships with industry and government there,” Garwood said.
Getting
new aircraft is crucial for Modi as the South Asian nation faces
increased risks from neighboring Pakistan and China at a time when the
Russian MiG fighters -- India’s mainstay -- are being phased out. The
defense industry is a key part of Modi’s “Make in India” policy, which
aims to promote domestic manufacturing.

Canceled Order
After scrapping an order with Dassault
Aviation for 126 Rafale jets worth $11 billion in 2015, a process that
took nearly a decade, Modi’s administration bought 36 jets separately to
speed up the process. Under the new tender, the winner will have to
deliver the first jet within three years of securing the contract.
India
had previously said that it was looking to replace its current fleet of
combat aircraft with a single-engine jet, but subsequently announced
that it would also consider twin-engine aircraft such as Boeing’s
twin-engine F/A-18 Super Hornet.
Boeing’s Cunningham said the
change in direction meant that the timing of the Indian Air Force
process was now about 12 months later than the Indian Navy.
“Certainly
today, the Indian Navy timeline will conclude sooner than the Indian
Air Force,” Cunningham said. “They would appear to us to be sequential,
but I’m not assuming that they’re related.”